Once upon a time in the not-so-distant past, rookies weren’t
expected to do a whole lot in their first year or years in the pros. Even if
they had a stellar college career, it was mostly assumed that they would take
their lumps and struggle for a while, that is if they even got off the bench.
These days, however, highly-touted players are not only
expected to play a lot, but become stars almost right away. This is perhaps
most evident in the WNBA right now.
When she didn’t immediately light things
up, Caitlin Clark got criticized, with some calling her overrated and others saying
she just wasn’t ready for prime time.
While Clark has mostly proven her doubters wrong, fellow
rookie Angel Reese currently finds herself in a similar situation. Offensively
this season, she has struggled, and her field goal percentage sits under 39%, which is about 10 points lower than what it was at LSU. But it’s her
shooting woes that seem to get the most focus, rather than how she excels at
other aspects of her game.
Reese has been a force on the glass, grabbing nearly 13 rebounds a game, which leads the league. She also averages over five offensive boards per contest. Reese will almost certainly set the record for double-doubles as a rookie this year, and she is just one of three players averaging double figures in two categories.
Oh, and she recently had her third straight game with at least 20 rebounds, which is something only a handful of NBA players have ever done.
Yet, critics are quick to point out the negatives with Reese. They like to harp on the fact that many of her rebounds come from her own missed shots. Or they say that she’s jealous of the attention Clark gets, while trying to manufacture a feud between the two and making a huge deal out of every hard foul.
In her first year in the league, Reese is doing things never
done before. At some point, her scoring will probably catch up to her
rebounding prowess.
And if it doesn’t? So what? We can still appreciate her
greatness, even if she ends up being more Charles Oakley than Charles Barkley.
Thanks in large part to social media, athletes are under more scrutiny than ever, but Reese seems to be taking the criticism in stride. Recently on X she posted this clap-back to the naysayers: “if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. we good!”
